ENG - Why didn’t this tree just give up when it found itself growing in the wrong direction? How many years did it spend falling, excruciatingly slowly, away from the light? What gave it the strength to send out new growth every spring, to strive for something resembling tree-shape? And failing in that goal - hopelessly out of reach - still this tree lives on! Thank you, brave tree!
Today I met a man with no forearms. He was driving his car with one appendage on each elbow, apparently the skin-cloaked upper inch or so of radius or ulna. He stopped to talk to my husky Jack and me and show us pictures of his beloved Swiss-rescue-bulldog (Continental Bulldog). His 2 appendages manipulate his smart phone better than any of my fingers or thumbs. He was friendly and cheerful. He drove away, leaving me feeling more connected. All the more remarkable since Germans don’t usually strike up conversations with random strangers! Thank you, mysterious man with no forearms!
So what is it that compels living things to transform hardships into new opportunities? I think it must be the spirit of life, itself. I suppose some attribute this drive to strive to God. There’s a little seed of it in each of us, ready to grow.